Valve for a material exchange column

ABSTRACT

A valve for a material exchange column is composed of a horizontal channel having a web and upwardly extending side flanges, a valve port in said web communicating with notches in each side flange, and a valve head plate mounted over the port and having portions of its edge extending through the notches for vertical movement therein.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Rainer M. Muller Wiesbaden, Germany [21] Appl. Nov 768,644

[22] Filed Oct. 18, 1968 [45] Patented June 8,1971 [73] Assignee Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nurnberg Aktiengesellscha Nurnberg, Germany [32] Priority Oct. 20, 1967 [33] Germany [31] P16 19 726.5

[54] VALVE FOR A MATERIAL EXCHANGE COLUMN 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figs.

52 u.s.c| 131/5135, l 137/533.19,26l/114 51 1111.01 ..F16k15/02 [50] FieldofSearch l37/513.5, 533,533.7.533.l9;261/114(UT) [5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,819,050 1/1958 Huggins 137/533.19X FOREIGN PATENTS 80,918 5/1963 France 261/114VT Primary ExaminerHarold W. Wealkley Attorneys-Francis D. Stephens and Hugo Huettig, 11.

ABSTRACT: A valve for a material exchange column is composed of a horizontal channel having a web and upwardly extending side flanges, a valve port in said web communicating with notches in each side flange, and a valve head plate mounted over the port and having portions of its edge extending through the notches for vertical movement therein.

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VALVE FOR A MATERIAL EXCHANGE COLUMN This invention relates to a valve and a valve seat for material exchange columns and especially for a fractionating column having several valve ports spaced from each other and valve head plates for closing the ports as well as to attaching means mounted above and which restrict the vertical movement of the valve head plates.

in chemical plants, it is conventional to subdivide material exchange columns, such as absorption and rectification columns, by several vertically spaced intermediate plates. in order to make possible the exchange of material in these columns, it is conventional to provide the column with valves corresponding to the capacity range of the column which are actuated by the respective materials and/or media.

in such a conventional column, it is customary that the intermediate plates or bottoms are formed as flat sheets attached by tongues or the like to the interior wall of the column. in order to made the exchange of materials possible, precipitating pipes are mounted between the intermediate sheets and valve ports are formed in the sheets above which are mounted valve discs functioning as valve heads. These discs have a diameter larger than their respective port and are loosely mounted above the respective port and limited in their vertical movement by holding devices. These holding devices are formed as spiders mounted above the locking discs and which are attached to the intermediate plate by means of tongues. However, in practice, it has been found that the attachment of the tongues of the spiders to the valve seat or intermediate plate incurs large labor costs and therefore expense in thevalve seats.

it is the object of this invention to produce a valve which, while retaining the advantages of the heretofore used valves, is of simple construction and, in addition, permits a forced guiding of the liquid.

The objects of this invention are obtained by providing a valve seat composed of a channel having a horizontal web and upwardly directed side flanges and with valve ports in the web. Notches in the flanges form wide horizontal slots through which the circumferential edge of a valve head plate extends.

By reason of these features, a valve seat can be produced with low labor cost because it is possible to produce all the parts with a metal stamp press. Consequently, it is possible to produce the valve seat of this invention almost entirely by machines as contrasted to the manual labor heretofore used. Also, the valve of this invention can be produced more solidly and durable than heretofore and with less material. Also, furthermore, in columns having a high liquid capacity, the valve of this invention offers little resistance to the flow of liquid because the flow of the channels can be mounted perpendicular to the supply and runoff spillway of the respective descending pipes. However, in columns of low liquid capacity, the liquid dwell time is very long because the channels are always placed parallel to the supply and runoff spillway. Finally, the pressure loss with small steam loads is especially low because the flanges of the channels catch a portion of the clear liquid pressure which forms in some zones because of the fact that only a portion of the liquid in the column is bubbling. When the customary valve seats without legs are used, the degassified liquid usually has the tendency to press the bubbling layer together and thus to increase the pressure loss because the vapor or steam on its way from the clear liquid has to rebuild again and again a new layer of bubbles. Also, this invention has the advantage that the columns can be constructed as to size by using standardized units.

The means by which the objects of this invention are obtained are described more fully with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings in which:

HO. 1 is a side view ofa channel with the valve therein;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a plan view of three channels in parallel and containing the valves ofthis invention.

As shown in the drawings, the valve of this invention is formed in a channel 1, there being a number of parallel channels attached to the wall of the column. in the web 1a of the channel are valve ports 2 which extend across the entire web to the side flanges 3. Within the range of the side flanges are one or more downfall pipes which are not shown. A valve head plate 4 is mounted above each port 2 and is of greater diameter than port 2 so that the valve port is either opened or closed depending upon the capacity degree of the column. in order to limit the vertical movement of plate 4 above opening 2, wide horizontal notches 5 are formed in flanges 3, which notches communicate with the port 2 and through which extend a portion of the circumferential edge of plate 4, respectively. in order to make sure that valve head plates 4 do not lie with their rims on the valve seat formed by the web la, distance or spacer members 6 are bent up from the inner edge of port 2 so as to keep a small space between the rim of valve head plate 4 and the valve seat. Notches 5 are so large that valve head plate 4 can move freely upwardly and downwardly but is restricted in its movement.

The valve assembly is produced by a stamping process in which one flange is first bent, the valve head plate 4 inserted through the notch in the flange, and thereafter the second flange is bent so that the other side of the valve heat plate goes through the corresponding notch. The entire assembly is combined with other channels produced in the same manner by being glued, welded, riveted, threaded or bolted together and thus the final seat assembly is obtained. When synthetic materials are used, the channels 1 should be first produced and the valve head plates 4 subsequently inserted by spreading the flanges apart. When unbendable materials are used, such as ceramic white ware and the like, this invention provides a construction in which the valve head plate is built in either from below or from the side and is prevented from falling out by the adjacent channel.

Having now described the means by which the objects of this invention are obtained,

lclaim:

A valve for an exchange column and especially a fractionating column comprising a channel (1) composed of a horizontal web and two upwardly extending side flanges (3), a valve port (2) in said web from side flange to side flange, a notch (5) in each side flange above and communicating with said port, a circular valve head plate (4) mounted above said port and having portions of its circumferential edge extending through each notch, respectively, for vertical movement therein, and at least three distance members (6) projecting upwardly from said web on the inner edge of said port for spacing said valve head plate from said web and port. 

